Jeff Pustil Movies

A Toronto teen finds his view of the world forever changed by what first appeared to be a typical drug deal, but subsequently yields severe consequences, in this period drama from writer/director David Bezmozgis. Toronto, 1988: The school year is nearing an end as the long Victoria Day weekend signals the onset of summer. Wayne Gretzky is leading the Edmonton Oilers into the Stanley Cup finals, and Bob Dylan is coming to town. Sixteen year old Ben Spektor and his best friends Sammy and Noah all have tickets to the show. It may be the 1980s, but these three teens are absorbed in the culture and music of the 1960s. As the three friends arrive at the concert venue, Ben spies two teenagers outside buying drugs. Though he thinks little of it at the time, the exchange will soon come back to haunt him. So much can happen in a week, and as the search for a missing teen commences a few days later, disparate forces begin converging upon the conflicted adolescent. Later entering into a relationship with the missing boy's sister and witnessing a bizarre Vietnam reenactment using Victoria Day firecrackers, Ben finds his first steps into adulthood becoming unusually precarious. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A hit Broadway musical in 1957 and an equally successful Hollywood film in 1962, Meredith Willson's The Music Man was again brought before the cameras in this lavish made-for-TV adaptation. Standing in for the original's Robert Preston is Matthew Broderick as "Professor" Harold Hill, a glib traveling salesman who descends upon the town of River City, IA, in the weeks just prior to the Fourth of July celebration of 1912. Persuading the populace that the youth of River City is in great danger of being corrupted by the presence of a new pool table, Hill convinces them that their only hope for salvation is the organization of a boy's band, with himself as a leader. Naturally, this will require the parents to shell out good money for band instruments and uniforms, and in exchange, Hill promises to teach the kids how to make music by utilizing his revolutionary "Think System." There's only one problem: Harold Hill is an out-and-out con artist, who doesn't know one note from another. Even so, he manages to win over everybody in town except local librarian/music teacher Marian Paroo (Kristin Chenoweth) and thick-eared Mayor Shinn (Victor Garber). Ultimately, however, Marian joins Hill's camp -- mainly because he has brought her sullen brother, Winthrop (Cameron Monaghan), out of his shell -- but as July Fourth approaches, Hill faces exposure and arrest thanks to a vengeful anvil salesman named Charlie Cowell (Patrick McKenna). A meticulously faithful rendition of the Broadway original, The Music Man happily includes all of the show's wonderful songs, among them "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl," "Lida Rose," "Marian the Librarian," "Pickalittle," "Til There Was You," and "My White Knight" (which was not used in the 1962 movie adaptation). Though some critics found Matthew Broderick a bit too lightweight and Jeff Bleckner's direction a tad gimmicky, no one could fault the full-bodied vocal renditions, nor the consistently inventive choreography of Kathleen Marshall. Produced by the same team responsible for the 2003 movie smash Chicago, The Music Man debuted February 16, 2003, as an "expanded" episode of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth entry in the Iron Eagle series follows the return of General Charles "Chappy" Sinclair (Louis Gosset Jr., who deserves better) as he trains a Dirty Dozen-style team of juvenile delinquents to improve their quality of life by flying planes and combatting evil. This time the Air Force itself is the enemy, as the intrepid teens uncover a conspiracy involving biological weaponry. When Chappy contacts his old friend, General Kettle (Al Waxman), he learns the General is in on the action. Along the way, the group manages to combat some ill-prepared drug dealers as well. This installment is better than the second or third, but that's not the highest of praise; Iron Eagle IV is a dumb-dumb fantasy for fourteen-year-old boys who don't yet have their learner's permits, much less their pilot's licenses. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, vigilantes must watch over a Canadian city after its police go on strike. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Shot in 1983 but not released until 1985, this low-budget sci-fi adventure is set in a degenerate society sometime in the near future, with humans thrown back to the level of Neanderthals by nuclear war. Three astronauts, two men and a woman, are in charge of a space station armed with nuclear weapons when World War III erupts on earth. They remain in space to stay out of the conflagration but are forced to crash-land several months after the war has wiped out most of civilization. After the crash, one astronaut is killed, another is captured, and the third stays with the downed space station in a series of chase-and-capture scenes. Marauders have taken over a lawless world and the future looks bleak for everyone, even the remaining astronauts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Self-made man Corletto wants his son to be properly educated. The kid sees no value in this, reasoning that if his dad made it without a diploma, he can too. The younger Corletto soon discovers that the School of Hard Knocks just isn't enough to cut it in today's world. Designed for teen and preteen audiences,the 27-minute Corletto and Son avoids making speeches, illustrating its thesis in an entertaining and palatable fashion. The film was put together by Modern Curriculum Productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide